Pittsburgh Steelers: Ryan Clark’s career a feel-good story

By Brian Spaen | Feb 20, 2015

Ryan Clark, a former Pittsburgh Steelers safety, announced his retirement this week during ESPN’s coverage of the NFL combine. He played a total of 13 seasons in the league with eight of them coming in Pittsburgh.

Clark certainly had a career that resembles a feel-good story. He emerged as one of the great Steelers defenders despite not being drafted way back in 2002. During the offseason, Clark worked multiple times with ESPN. On the set of NFL Live on Wednesday, he announced that he was retiring as a Steeler despite spending one last season with the Washington Redskins in 2014.

"“I get an opportunity to retire as a Steeler, which is very important to me,” Clark said on the ESPN set at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “To be able to play with some of the greats in Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, [James] Farrior, the opportunity to play with Sean Taylor and to do things I never dreamed of … when I signed at LSU, I was just there to get an education. To have an opportunity to win a Super Bowl, play in another and play in a Pro Bowl, it’s been amazing.”"

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Clark played at LSU and was then picked up later by the New York Giants. He mostly played on special teams during his two-year tenure there.

Later, he would join the Redskins in 2004 for the next two seasons. He stepped up in place of injured safeties Matt Bowen and Andre Lott and recorded 91 total tackles in 15 games. He backed up that campaign with 57 tackles and three picks in 2005.

Despite wanting to return to the Redskins, the team moved on and Clark ended up with the Steelers in 2006. He had an immediate opportunity on the team replacing Chris Hope, and took every advantage of it.

He only played less than 13 games in a season with the Steelers in 2007, where he appeared in six when dealing with sickle-cell disease. It began in October after playing in Denver and having less oxygen due to the high altitude. He lost over 30 pounds when being sick, but overcame the adversity in a huge way — by helping his team win their sixth Super Bowl the following year.

Sep 16, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu (43) and free safety Ryan Clark (25) chase down a Cincinnati Bengals ball carrier at Paul Brown Stadium. Cincinnati won the game 20-10. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Clark will also be known for his game-saving tackle on Willis McGahee in the 2008 AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens. In the fierce AFC North rivalry, the two teams were playing in another close battle and the Ravens began their drive at the 4:18 mark down 23-14.

On the second play of the drive, Clark knocked the ball away from McGahee after he caught the ball and Lawrence Timmons recovered the fumble. That aided in Pittsburgh running off some clock and Baltimore didn’t get the ball back until the 1:48 mark. Joe Flacco would eventually throw a pick to ice the game.

The Steelers eventually won the Super Bowl, 27-23, over the Arizona Cardinals. They appeared in another Super Bowl two years later and lost to the Green Bay Packers 31-25.

Troy Polamalu got most of the spotlight, but it shouldn’t overshadow what Clark did on the field. It certainly didn’t bother him as they both played well together, having a great relationship inside and outside of the game. Clark became the captain of the team in 2013, but still had nothing but respect for Polamalu in hopes of having a Super Bowl run at the beginning of the season.

Clark was consistently great until the end, recording over 100 tackles in the last four consecutive seasons (including a final season with the Redskins). In his career, he recorded 929 total tackles (644 solo), four sacks, 50 pass deflections and 16 interceptions (12 with the Steelers).

Steelers fans have paid their respects to the former safety, and he’ll be working as an ESPN analyst along with being a part of the NFL Players Association.

Next: Steelers selected for Hall of Fame Game

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